Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party was a revolutionary socialist organization active in the United States from 1966 to 1982, having a chapter in Algeria from 1969 to 1972. The party was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966 in Oakland, California, and the party formed armed citizens' patrols to challenge police brutality and monitor police actions. The BPP set up community health clinics and offered free breakfasts, and its membership would increase to thousands of African-Americans as more Panthers were arrested or killed, with the FBI assassinating several members of the party. In 1970, the party had offices in 68 cities and had thousands of members, but leadership battles caused by the FBI investigation led to defections from the party. Throughout the 1970s, the party contracted even more, and it had just 27 members in 1980. The organization dissolved in 1982, although the New Black Panther Party and Black Lives Matter groups have been influenced by the original Panthers.